Scars That Can Never Heal
by Lord Larry
Summary: AU A mysterious new student transfers to Hogwarts in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's 6th year. While Harry and Ron befriend him, Hermione begins to fall in love with the brooding newcomer. But he has a painful memory that haunts him. rewrite in progress
1. Pains of the Past

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I'm just a fan, that I am. Oh, and the names of some of the new characters are from the anime series Ruroni Kenshin, which I also don't own. I'm a fan of both, this is an idea I had, and it's not a true crossover, more like an ancestry thing. Anyway, enjoy Scars That Can Never Heal.

Chapter 1, Pain of the Past

Ken sat alone in the compartment of the Hogwarts Express, trying desperately not to fall asleep. He had arrived in London only the day before from America, and his body had not yet adjusted to the different time zone. It was a bit of a struggle just for him to wake up in time that morning, and it was turning into a struggle to stay awake now. And he was losing that battle. "Wake up!" he said to himself. But it was not enough; he dozed off a few seconds later. Then the dreams came.

He saw Nicole, standing there, smiling her perfect smile. He saw her walking to classes with him, her arm around his. He could almost smell her, she never wore perfume, but she always smelled so sweet, like tangerines. He could hear the sound of her laughter, the sweet sound that in his mind still seemed to be ringing clearer than a thousand bells. Oh god he loved her. Being with her had made him feel so alive. She had made him forget his family's legacy. She had helped him forget what his ancestor, his namesake had done, which he had always felt that he was obligated to try and atone for. When he was with her, the world had been beautiful place. He had wanted to be with her forever, he had been determined to be with her forever. But fate had other plans for him.

This was the nightmare Ken had seen for all those months. It always started the same. He was sitting out in the courtyard with Nicole. He turned to her and kissed her deeply, passionately. When their lips parted he said the words he thought he would never say, "I love you, Nicole."

"I love you too, Ken." She said, with a smile so bright, it could block the sun. Then it happened. One second, Nicole was standing there smiling at him and telling him she loved him. The next second, there was the unmistakable swish of a sword, and a look of pain and shock sprang to her eyes. Then blood sprayed in torrents out of her back, and she collapsed into his arms. He heard her killer laughing as he got away. Nicole looked up into his eyes, and said in a very weak voice, "I love you Ken, with a-all m-m-my h-h- heart." Her beautiful eyes closed forever. She died in his arms.

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his right upper arm, which woke him up. He opened up his gi, and looked at the bandages wrapped around his right arm. Two thin red lines had formed on the white bandages, forming a cross. He closed his gi and started rummaging through his bag to find a fresh roll when he was interrupted by the sound of someone opening the door.

"Oh I'm sorry, but I was looking for an empty compartment." Said the girl who had opened the door. Ken regarded her for a second. She was just about five foot seven, with a slim body. She had extremely bushy brown hair, and deep brown eyes. He snapped out of his trance.

"There's space here, if you want to stay." He replied.

"Sure, let me go get my friends." She said, and then added, "I'm Hermione Granger by the way."

Ken smiled and said, "My names Ken, Ken Smith"

"Pleased to meet you!" She replied, as she left to go get her friends.

Ok, chapter 1 done. I know that things are a little confusing right now, but all will be revealed in time. You'll just have to trust me, that you will.

Authors Note 2/15/08: well here it is, my first rewrite for this story. Not much has changed; I just cleaned it up a little, and fixed some issues that I only discovered in hindsight. This was the first fic I ever began writing, and now I really want to fix it and finish it. Also, my decision to finish it ties into a joint project between myself, The No Life King of Denton, Turned into a Rhesus Monkey, Megx, and M.N. Moore. More on that later.


	2. Conversations, Demonstrations, and the S

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter stuff (cept copies of the books), J.K. Rowling owns them. I also don't own the names from Ruroni Kenshin that I'm using either, they're owned by some Japanese guy. But I AM a fan of both and I think this fic is about to get a lot more interesting. He he. Anyway, from now on I'm going to be switching mainly between Ken and Hermione's point of view. Enjoy chapter 2

Chapter 2: Conversations, Demonstrations, and the Sorting

Hermione left the compartment to go get Harry and the others. As she walked towards the group of them standing on the platform, she felt a sudden surge of jealousy, which she quickly suppressed. 'Harry and Ginny are happy together,' she reminded herself, 'just as Ron and Padma.' 'Just because you're the only one in the group who's single doesn't give you the right to bring the rest of them down.' Said a little voice in her head. Shut up, she thought back, that's not what I want to do. "Hey everybody, I found a compartment." She yelled over the noise of the train preparing to leave.

"That's great Hermione." Said Harry distractedly, his eyes never leaving Ginny's. Hermione gave a slight sigh that none of the others heard and led them to the compartment in question.

Ken had not really moved much since the bushy haired young woman had left, but his mind was more focused on the present than it had been for a while. 'Hermione, kind of an odd name,' he thought, 'but then, my full name's pretty odd, specially cause of the way I look." The young woman in question returned after a few minutes and began introducing her friends as they followed her into the compartment. The first guy was a tall red- haired guy who she introduced as Ron, with a pretty girl cuddling him as they sat down, whose name apparently was Padma. Then there was Ron's sister, Ginny, who walked in on the arm of the famous Harry Potter. Ken didn't even need Hermione to tell him that, he would've been able to notice that scar from a mile away. The thought of scars brought up some dark memories, but Ken forced those thoughts to the back of the mind and decided to try and get to know the people he'd be sharing the compartment with for the next few hours.

That was going to be difficult. As soon as they had said "Hi" to Ken and sat down, both the couples had become totally oblivious to anything but each other. He stared at the happy couples for a few minutes, fighting back his own jealousy. Then he shifted his attention to Hermione, and was surprised to find her staring right back at him.

Hermione wanted to try and get a head start on studying, but there were two things distracting her. First was the fact that two of her best friends were snogging their girlfriends right in front of her, but that only mildly bothered her. The thing she found most distracting was the fact that she couldn't stop staring at Ken. There was something about him that had grabbed her attention, but she couldn't figure out what. Maybe it was something about the way he looked. He was slim, but he gave of a sense of being very strong and powerful. He was just as tall as Ron, at least it looked as if he was, she couldn't tell because of the way he was sitting. She looked up at his face, and figured out what had grabbed her attention so strongly. 'He has the most amazing eyes,' she thought. His eyes were deep violet, and were unlike anything she had ever seen before. They were framed perfectly (at least she though perfectly) by his dark red hair. His hair was a few shades darker than Ron or Ginny's, and it was almost as long as Dumbledore's. He had it tied back, but even though his hair was straight, it was also very shaggy. It looked almost like he had a mane of hair and had tied it back.

Then she suddenly realized that his incredible violet eyes were staring right at her. She was so flustered at being caught staring at him that she said the first thing that came to her head. "So are you the new transfer student?" she asked, mentally cursing herself for asking such an obvious question.

He chuckled and replied, "Yeah, I used to go to the Salem Magic Institute in Massachusetts, but my mom always wanted one of her sons to go to Hogwarts. So here I am. It's kinda weird, transferring in at the beginning of my sixth year."

"You're a sixth year? That's what year Harry, Ron, and I are in." Hermione replied, while her mind tried desperately to find another question. This wasn't like her, she had never been this tongue tied before. 'Calm down,' she thought, 'he's just a boy. Now lets think, he said something about his parent's sons, so that must mean he has brothers.' "So how many brothers do you have?"

For a second this question took him off guard, how did she know he had brothers? Then he realized that he had mentioned something along those lines, but that still didn't help. He wasn't ready to talk too much about his brothers. Maybe Sano or even Saito, but certainly not his other brother. The memory of the last time he had seen the other one was too painful in his mind. 'What the hell, I'll tell her, just not about him.' "I have three older brothers, and one older sister. Its kinda weird though." he said.

"What's weird?" she asked.

"Well you see, my mom is a Japanese immigrant, and my dad's a twentieth generation American wizard. So all my siblings and I are half Japanese, and my brothers and I all have Japanese names. There's my oldest brother Sanosuke, but we all call him Sano, then there are the twins, Saito and Shishio. Then there's my oldest sibling, my sister, Anna. She's the only one among my siblings with a normal name." He explained.

"Hey," said Ron, tearing himself away from Padma for a second "your name isn't that weird."

Ken chuckled, and then said, "Ken is just the name I go by, it's short for my first name. My full first name is Kenshin."

'Kenshin,' Hermione thought, 'what a wonderful name. Oh snap out of it, she scolded herself again; he's just a boy.'

As the hours, and the train, rolled on; Ken and Hermione srtuck up a conversation. They found that they had a few things in common, both were avid readers, and Transfiguration was both of their's favorite subject. When the plump witch arrived with the snack cart, Ken bought the snacks for Hermione and himself, as a "gesture of friendship". However, as soon as the cart left, who should arrive but Draco Malfoy. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Potty and the Weasel. Are these the pathetic excuses of girls that you two decided to go out with?" Malfoy drawled in his cruel voice.

Ken was shocked at how rude and cruel this little jackass was being towards the others. Just who did he think he was? "Ah," the blonde boy continued, "and if it isn't Granger, the know it all mudblood."

Wait a second, Ken thought, 'did he just call Hermione a mudblood? That's not right, I hate these pureblood dumbasses that think they're better than muggle-borns.' "We'll see about that." He said in a voice that was barely a whisper. He stood up and walked over until he was standing face to face with the jackass.

Hermione felt her body tense up as she watched Ken staring Malfoy down. Malfoy seemed to b a little uncomfortable as he drawled "And who is this? Another mudbloo..".

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Ken interrupted, and then he added, "Get the hell outta here!"

While Hermione wanted to speak up and tell Ken to stop cursing, but the look on his face stopped her. The kind look to Ken's face had disappeared, and had been replaced by a look of total hatred. 'He just met Malfoy, and he already hates him,' she thought, 'I guess he's a good judge of character.'

"Watch your mouth, or else you'll regret it" Malfoy retorted. Ken knew his kind, a pureblood purist. Ken wanted his asshole to leave, but he knew that it was gonna take more than words to get rid of his type. Fortunately, he knew just how to get rid of this guy, but he'd have to concentrate a bit. Ken brought his mind into the best focus he could. "Get out!" he said, as he cast the spell.

Hermione was startled by what had just happened. Malfoy had talked back to Ken, but she had expected that. She hadn't expected what happened next. Ken just stared a Malfoy for a second. The he said, "Get out." And that's when something strange happened. Ken's hair turned bright red, so bright that it was almost glowing, and started standing on end. His eyes and become bright orange, and looked as if they were on fire. Then Hermione felt it. It was as if Ken was radiating intimidation. Everyone in the compartment moved slightly away from him. Malfoy had a look of pure terror on his face, and a wet spot growing on the front of his pants. He turned around and ran as if his life was in danger. Ken's body relaxed, and Hermione noticed that his face had suddenly become very tired looking.

'Shit, I overdid it.' Ken thought. He hadn't meant to cast the spell on everybody in the compartment, but he had slipped. True, the little shit had taken the full brunt of the swordsman's spell, but everyone else around him had gotten some blowback from it. He also had begun to feel a little tired. He sat down and covered his eyes, shielding them from the lights of the compartment. "I gotta stop overdoing that." He said to himself. He looked up and realized that everyone else was now staring at him.'Must look pretty strange, my hair and eyes probably haven't reverted.' He thought to himself, deciding that he owed them an explanation. "I suppose you all are wondering about what just happened." He said with a light sigh.

Hermione was the first to speak up. "Do you realize how much trouble you're going to get into when we get to Hogwarts? We aren't supposed to use magic outside the school!" she said, very quickly in a very stern voice. Hermione was still shaken up by whatever Ken had done, but she didn't want any of them to get into trouble. 'Especially Ken' a little voice in her head said. She mentally shook herself, and was about to start telling Ken off for using magic on the train, when she realized he was chuckling.

"Technically, that wasn't magic. It was something completely different." Ken answered.

"What the hell was it then?" Ron said, rather shakily.

Ken considered the question, then replied, "Its kinda hard to explain. It's a technique called the Swordsman's Spirit Spell, but it has little to do with magic. In fact it was developed by muggles, a long time ago, in Japan."

"Well then if it's not magic, what is it?" Hermione asked, looking more curious than angry.

"Well, its kind of an extension upon the human spirit, it harnesses the dormant potential within a person and redirects it. When the potential is redirected, it can be used to cast a spell of intimidation, like I just did just now. The trick is that only a person with training in sword techniques can access it, let alone use it. It takes years to develop the spirit, let alone direct it in the way I did." Ken explained.

Hermione nodded silently, and then she realized something he had said. "Since you can use that spell so effectively, you must be a trained swordsman as well?" she asked.

Ken smiled and thought, 'Man, Hermione's pretty smart. She keeps on picking up on this stuff that I forgot to explain, while the others all just smile and nod. Well, here goes nothing' Ken cleared his throat and said, "Yeah, Hermione, I'm a trained swordsman, my brothers and I all are. It's a family tradition from my mother's side; all the sons must learn to wield a sword. Personally, I am the twenty- eighth master of the Hiten Mistu-Rugi style of swordsmanship. My brothers all studied other schools of sword fighting, but the style I mastered has been passed through my family since the late1800's."

Then Ginny spoke up, sounding a little scared, "But if you're a swordsman, doesn't that mean that you kill people?"

Ken sighed, and replied, "No, not all swordsman are killers, and not all sword fighting styles are obsessed with blood. For instance, my oldest brother Sano and I study Kamia Kashim style, which is completely non- lethal. Course neither of us are masters of it yet, but even a trainee couldn't kill anybody."

Hermione looked him straight in the eye, and asked, "What about the style you've mastered, could that be used to kill?"

Ken gritted his teeth, then replied, "Yes, it can and has been. But that was before the change in the styles code. The fourteenth master of Hiten Mistu- Rugi style, my ancestor, decreed from then on that the following masters would all adapt the style to be non-lethal. No master since then has taken a life." Harry, Ron, and Ginny all seemed content with the explanation, but Hermione looked like she wanted to pursue the subject further. Ken however didn't want to talk about the subject of swords and killing. He decided to shift it to something a little less painful, school. "So Hermione, what are the classes like at Hogwarts?" He asked.

Ken and Hermione talked about school for the rest of the trip, and their conversation was only interrupted by the arrival at Hogsmeade station. Ken had to go to school a separate way from the rest of them because he had to report to Dumbledore upon arrival. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Padma made their way to the Great Hall, chatting happily among themselves. When they sat down, Hermione scanned the hall anxiously, looking for a sign of Ken. 'I hope he's put in Gryffindor.' she thought, 'Wait, what am I thinking? I mean, he's just a guy.'

The first years were lead in and sorted, and just as everybody thought the feast was about to begin, Dumbledore stood up. "Before we begin this excellent feast the house elves have prepared, I have an announcement." He began, "This year I am pleased to announce that we have a new student who has transferred here from the prestigious Salem Magic Institute in America. It is my pleasure to introduce you to him. I present Mr. Ken Smith." Ken walked out of the entrance hall and right up to the stool that the sorting hat rested on. Professor McGonagall picked up the hat, and Ken sat down to be sorted.

Ken felt nervous as the hat was lowered onto his head. For a minute nothing happened, then Ken heard a voice in his ear, coming from the hat. "Ah," the hat said, "what have we here. Hmm, not a bad mind, in fact very clever. Oh what's this, already an animagus at your age! Impressive, very impressive. You've got a great deal of courage, more than most people. I think the perfect place for you is GRYFFINDOR!"

Authors note 2/16/08: This is a pretty extensive rewrite of both chapters 2&3, which I have combined. Chapter numbering is going to be off for a few days until I get a chance to fix the other chapters.


	3. The First Day

Disclaimer: I don't own much, especially Harry Potter or Ruroni Kenshin. If I did, I'd be rich. But I'm just a poor college student, that I am.

Author's Note: Okay, the whole animagus thing kinda came out of left field. I myself didn't even see it coming. But what's said is said, what's done is done. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to work that fact in now. On with chapter3

Chapter 3: The First Day

Ken walked to the Gryffindor table in a state of shock. "That hat, it knows I'm an animagus!" he thought. True, he was registered in America, but he hadn't exactly told anyone in England. He knew he should have registered upon arrival, but he had had other things on his mind. "Tomorrow, I'll go and tell the headmaster." He decided. He sat down at the table right next to Hermione.

Hermione had noticed Ken's shocked state, but didn't get a chance to ask him about it due to her housemates bombarding him with questions as soon as he sat down. He seemed to have shaken himself out of it as the food appeared. As they ate, the table's conversation turned to classes the next day. Ken turned to Hermione and said, "Hey Hermione."

She didn't realize that he was talking to her though; she was paying more attention to his eyes again. He tapped her shoulder and she napped out of her trance, and began to blush a little bit. 'This is stupid,' she thought, 'why is he affecting me like this? He's just a guy!' 'A very good looking guy.' A small voice in the back of her head said, which she immediately told to shut up.

"Hey Hermione, I was wondering something." Ken said. Hermione suddenly got a little nervous, wondering if he could read her thoughts about him. He continued "I was wondering if you knew anyone who could tutor me in Charms; it's the only subject I have a fair amount of trouble in."

Then Ron cut in on the conversation, "Hermione, you should tutor him. You're the best in the class at Charms. Actually, Ken, Hermione here's the top of the class overall. She'd be the best to help you." Hermione blushed slightly as Ken looked at her, obviously impressed.

Ken asked, "Hermione, do you think that you could tutor me in Charms?" Hermione simply nodded, and turned a brighter shade of red.

After the meal was over, the prefects led the new Gryffindors to the tower. After Harry and Ron showed Ken the sixth year dorm, he went out into the common room carrying his favorite book, The Great Gatsby. He had planned to read for a little while in front of the fire before going to bed. He flopped down on the chair closest to the fire and began to read, but then he heard someone clear their throat behind him. It was Hermione, and as she sat down she asked, "So what do you think of Hogwarts so far?"

Ken smiled and replied, "I like it. It's so different from Salem. It's so much bigger and roomier here, at Salem we had about half this space for my house's common room. And the grounds at Salem are nowhere near the size of the grounds here."

Hermione smiled, and then asked, "Do you miss Salem?"

"No, I never really was too fond of that school. I didn't have a lot of friends there, and quite frankly I learned more about magic from my parents than Salem. I don't think I'll ever go back there." He replied.

The two of them talked for close to two hours, almost forgetting that they were starting classes in the morning. They finally realized this, and were about to head to their respective dorms, when suddenly they heard a small voice behind them. It came from a scared looking first year girl. "I can't sleep, I'm too scared." She said.

Ken bent down to her and said "I understand, it can be scary sleeping in a strange place for the first time. Here, sit down on the couch." She sat down on the couch, and Ken sat down on the chair next to it. He began to sing, a slow, lullaby-like tune. Hermione didn't recognize the tune, and couldn't understand the song, because he was apparently singing in Japanese. It worked, the girl fell right asleep, and Ken conjured a blanket and covered her with it.

"That was nice of you." Hermione whispered to him, then asked, "Was that Japanese that you were singing in?"

"Yes it was. I'm completely fluent in Japanese; my mom started teaching me it when I was just learning to talk." He replied.

"Is it hard to learn?" she asked.

"Kinda, why, you want to learn?" he said.

"Yes." Hermione replied, blushing a little.

"Well, then consider it a trade for your tutoring me in Charms. But we can work that all out in the morning. Right now, I suggest that we both go get some sleep; we got a big day tomorrow. Goodnight Hermione." Ken whispered.

Hermione smiled and said, "Goodnight Ken." And they both headed up to their dorms.

Hermione got dressed for bed and thought about what had just happened. 'So why did you ask him about learning Japanese?' said a little voice in the back of her head. 'No reason.' She thought back. 'There is a reason; you want to spend more time with him. You like him.' The voice shot back. She wanted to tell the voice that it was wrong. She wanted to, but she realized she'd be lying to herself. Meanwhile, in the boy's dorm, Ken simply drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Hermione didn't see Ken anywhere. He wasn't in the common room, or the Great Hall eating. She decided to calm down and eat some breakfast while waiting for him, when the first year girl from the previous night walked up to her. "Hi, I wanted to thank you and your boyfriend for helping me last night." The girl said.

Hermione blushed and said, "Thanks, but it's really Ken that you should thank. And he's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend."

"You stupid girl, do you really think a filthy little mudblood like her could possibly have a boyfriend?" said a cold, drawling voice from behind Hermione. She turned around, ready to slap Malfoy, but she stopped herself when she saw Ken standing right behind him.

"You really don't learn, do you?" Ken said, and Malfoy became as white as one of the ghosts when he recognized the voice. Malfoy quickly excused himself and practically ran back to the Slytherin table. Ken smiled and turned to Hermione and the girl and said, "Well that takes care of him for the time being. So did you sleep well last night?"

The first year shyly spoke, "Yes, thank you. My names Claire."

"And my names Ken, and she's Hermione, it's nice to meet you Claire." Ken said with a smile.

Breakfast passed by without any more incidents, and everybody headed off to class. The morning started with Care of Magical Creatures, which the Gryffindors still had with the Slytherins. The all approached Hagrid's cabin but stopped when they heard loud growling coming from behind it. Hagrid walked up to them and said, "Morning, just been getting your lesson ready." Harry introduced Ken to Hagrid as he led the class to the paddock behind the cabin. When the class saw what was in the paddock, they froze, and a few of the girls screamed. The creatures appeared to be small dragons, but with elongated bodies. They were milling about in the paddock, almost oblivious to the stunned students. Hagrid's face was beaming as he addressed the class, "Oriental Mini Dragons! Well, what do yez think?" Nobody answered; most of the class was trying to edge themselves away from the mini dragons. But not Ken he walked right up to the fence and hopped over it, landing in a crouching position in front of one of the dragons. Hermione and some of the other girls gasped, Harry and Ron looked to Hagrid for what to do, and Malfoy's face broke into a malicious smile. Ken remained absolutely calm, and held out his right hand to the dragon that had been staring at him since he had entered the paddock. The dragon sniffed his hand twice, and then made direct eye contact with him. Then a long tongue shot out of the dragon's mouth and licked Ken in the face. Ken began to pet the dragon like it was a dog, and the dragon seamed to enjoy it greatly.

"Its okay everyone; mini dragons aren't as fierce as their larger counterparts. In fact, their temperament and behavior is very similar to that of some breeds of dogs." Ken said, as the dragon he was petting crawled onto him and perched itself on his shoulder. The rest of the class edged forward, still apprehensive despite Hagrid and Ken's assurances that it was safe. Hermione looked at Ken and the blue and gold scaled dragon on his shoulders, and decided if he could do it, so could she. She walked up to the paddock and climbed into it. A dragon with jade green scales locked eyes with her, so she bent down and held out her hand just like Ken had. The results were the same; the dragon licked her face and climbed up onto her shoulder. The rest of the class followed suit, and soon they all had miniature dragons perched on their shoulders. That's when Hagrid announced that as a yearlong project, the class was simply supposed to care for and nurture the dragons, with their final grade resting on how well they flourished. They were led to pens set up near the greenhouses, where they dropped off their dragons just as the bell rang.

While the Gryffindors headed up to Charms, Hermione caught up with Ken, and asked, "So where did you learn so much about oriental mini dragons?"

Ken replied, "My grandfather breeds them, and I used to visit him all the time. I learned quite a lot about them." They headed up to Charms, which was an unmitigated disaster. Professor Flitwick had them reviewing the charms they had learned over the years. Neville screwed up every charm he tried, but he wasn't the only one who was having trouble. Ken proved to Hermione that charms wasn't his best subject when, while trying to banish a pillow, he missed and ended up sending Professor Flitwick's coffee mug flying into the wall. Hermione repaired the mug, while Ken threw his wand into his bag in frustration. The bell rang and Ken stormed out of the room and kicked the nearest wall. "Damn it! Why can't I keep screwing up in Charms! Nobody in my family has ever had trouble in charms so why do I?" He half-yelled.

Hermione walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention, and said, "Don't worry, I'll help you. Besides, you probably just have a mental block about it or something. You just need some time and practice." Ken looked at her with a puzzled look on his face, which broke into a small smile as he said,

"Thanks Hermione. I needed that. Now let's get to lunch. At least we've got double Transfiguration this afternoon, finally a subject I'm good at!" And so they all went down to the Great Hall for lunch.

At Transfiguration, the Gryffindors got a big surprise. Ken was not joining their Transfiguration class as a student, but rather as a teacher's aid. Professor McGonagall explained that Ken had been trained in Transfiguration by his father, who was a noted expert in the field, and therefore had almost reached McGonagall's level of expertise in the subject. So he was made a student teacher for his fellow Gryffindor sixth years. After another class full of review, McGonagall released them, not looking at all disappointed by them for a change. This was mostly due to the fact that Ken had been able to help Neville understand a few of the spells that he had been having the most trouble with, so there had been no accidents. As they headed to Gryffindor tower to drop off their stuff before dinner, Hermione asked Ken, "So why didn't you tell us about your abilities in Transfiguration?"

Ken blushed a little, and said, "You never asked."

After dinner, the gang sat down in the common room and started complaining loudly about how rough the day had been. Well almost everybody, Hermione started tutoring Ken the second his butt hit the chair. After three hours straight of charms practice (and very little progress), they switched from charms to Japanese, which Hermione had some trouble grasping. After an hour or so, she threw her notebook on the table and said, "This makes no sense!" Ken looked at the page which she had been trying to translate while he had been lecturing her about the language, then looked at her and explained, "You're going to have to take this slow. Japanese isn't like French or English, It's not based in Latin. And you're trying to translate from the book while listening to me explain things to you isn't going to help. You can't multitask when learning this. However, I will say this; you've learned more than most people do in their first lesson. Now let's call it quits for tonight." Hermione agreed in a quite voice, and suddenly found herself looking straight into Ken's eyes. He whispered "I'm sorry if I was a little stern there, but you shouldn't push yourself too much. You'll learn it fast enough, but what you really need to learn to relax a bit, or else taking all this on at once will burn you out." If anybody else had said this to her, their would have been a blazing argument. But something about Ken stopped her from yelling at him. Something about his eyes stopped her from fighting with him. They bid each other good night, and Ken went up to his dorm room. Hermione picked up the book that Ken had told her to read for her Japanese lessons. She read it until she fell asleep in front of the warm fire.

Okay, that took a while. I've been real busy with school, which is finally over till August. So, the future chapters should come sooner, at least until next semester starts. Next chapter: Stabbing Pains


	4. Stabbing Pains

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. Shoushen Jump Comics owns Ruroni Kenshin. I own this computer (finally), a bunch of gundam models, a TV and DVD player.

Chapter 4: Stabbing Pains

The rest of the week went by with much incident. Gryffindor house lost about 30 points on Thursday when Professor Snape realized that he couldn't intimidate Ken. Ken started making some progress in his Charms tutoring, and Hermione made excellent progress in her Japanese lessons. Even Neville was doing better in Transfiguration class, due to the fact that Ken was helping him most of the time. Finally, it was dinnertime on Friday. That meant that classes were over for the week, and now there was nothing to do but wait for the weekend to start. Normally, everybody would be looking at doing a great deal of class work over the weekend, but as a treat, Dumbledore had asked the teachers to give them a break for the first weekend.

Before the dinner started, Dumbledore rose and addressed the students. "Before we begin dinner, I have a few announcements to make." He said. This brought about a great deal of whispers, nobody had any idea what Dumbledore was going to announce, and they thought he had gone over everything at the beginning of term feast. "First of all, from this point forward, all students are allowed to wear casual clothes during the weekend." This caused a great cheer to rise from the students, while the staff looked at Dumbledore as if he'd gone mad. He addressed the students again, "These clothes will remain tasteful, however. The second announcement I would like to make, at the end of October, I have decided that there will be a Halloween Ball. All students are able to attend. This ball will be different from the Yule Balls that have been held the past couple of years in four main respects. First, that it will be held on Halloween. Second, that all students may attend. Third, that students may dress in either dress robes, or in a costume if they wish. And finally, to take some of the pressure off of the young men in our student body, this Ball will be a girls ask boys dance." Dumbledore's last statement set off another wave of noise in the Great Hall squeals of delight from the girls, and groans of agony from the guys. Dumbledore then sat down and dinner commenced, but nobody was eating much, either out of excitement or something else.

After dinner, when the Gryffindors returned to their tower. The girls immediately kicked the boys out of the common room. "Where are we supposed to go?" yelled Ron.

"I don't know, but you can't stay here, we girls have some serious planning to do." Answered Parvati.

The male population of Gryffindor tower sulked of towards their dorms, while Ron muttered, "Planning? More like a war council if you ask me."

"Follow me guys." Ken said in a voice just barely loud enough for the other guys to hear, but not loud enough to travel downstairs and be heard by the girls. He led them up to the very top of Gryffindor tower, and then muttered something to a seemingly ordinary painting. Suddenly, a trapdoor appeared in the ceiling above them. A worn, frayed rope ladder rolled out of the opening, and Ken climbed it. The rest of the boys followed him, and soon they were all gathered in what seemed like a small attic. Ken smiled and said, "Welcome to my sanctuary."

The room wasn't very big, but it was large enough to hold all the guys if they squeezed in. Against one wall the sat a small shrine, obviously oriental in origin. Across the room from it there was a cross hanging on the wall. Other than that, the room was bare. Ken sat down in the middle of the room and crossed his legs. "I found this place by accident, while wandering around in the middle of the night." He explained. "I'd rather keep the password to myself. This is the place I feel most at home at in the castle. And after all I've been through.." He stopped there, and his face became very stony and serious. The room became extremely silent.

Ron was the first to break the silence, "So what are we gonna do about this dance?"

Ken snapped out of his state, and spoke up; "There's nothing we can do. It's up to the girls. Its all in their hands now."

"He's right, the girls decide who they want to go with, and they're the ones who are doing the asking." Said Dean. Murmurs of agreement followed, and then suddenly there was a loud thud. Neville had bumped into the shrine, and a picture had wobbled to the edge and begun to fall off. It was saved a fraction of a second later by Ken, who had crossed the room in an incredible burst of speed. He looked at Neville, and said in a very angry voice, "Neville, never do that again." He calmed down, and then added, "I'm sorry, I know it was an accident. But this shrine is here for a reason, and it is not to be disturbed again. Now if the rest of you don't mind, I'm going to bed, and if I leave here before you guys leave, you'll be locked in here."

Everybody left the room but Ken stayed behind for a few seconds, staring at the picture that had he had saved from smashing on the ground. It was a muggle picture of a red-haired girl, with greenish blue eyes. Ken was in the picture too with his arms around the girl, smiling like there was no tomorrow. "Nicole." Was all he said. He put the picture back on the shrine, when suddenly a stabbing pain shot through his right shoulder and upper arm. The pain was so intense it brought him down to his knees. He stayed there for a few minutes, waiting for it to subside. When it had, he lifted the right sleeve of his t-shirt. It was bandaged up as he always kept it, but now the bandages were red with blood. He cursed silently to himself, and left the room. Instead of heading to the dormitory like the other guys, he left Gryffindor tower and made his way to the hospital wing.

Hermione had stayed in the common room after the girls had finished with their little "planning session" for the dance. She had no idea what she was going to do for a date. 'Who can I ask, everyone I know is taken.' She thought. It was true; Ginny was asking Harry, Parvati said that Padma was going to ask Ron in the morning, etc. There were only two eligible guys in Gryffindor house, Neville and Ken. 'You know you want to ask Ken.' Said the little voice in the back of her head. 'Me, and every other single girl at Hogwarts.' She thought back. Most of the girls in school were of the opinion that Ken was one of the hottest guys in school. 'There's no way that he'll go with a bookworm like me.' She thought to herself. Normally she wasn't bothered by the fact that she was a bookworm. It didn't bother her too much that guys didn't look at her like they did the other girls. She HAD been content with just having her friends, and not getting caught up with the hassle of dating anyone. True, there had been that incredibly brief relationship with Viktor Krum, but other than that, she had been okay with being single. But during the summer, she had started to become jealous of her friends relationships. She had started to become tired of being single. 'But it hasn't been that bad lately.' She realized. 'Not since I met Ken. Oh my gosh, I think I might have a crush on Ken.' She thought to herself, to which the little voice in the back of her head replied, 'Told you so.' 'But what's the point, he'll never see me as anything more than a bookworm.' She told the voice. She decided that she was too tired to worry about anything and went up to bed. A second after she entered her dorm, Ken came downstairs and headed through the common room on his way to the hospital wing.

The next morning the common room was full of noise and excited people. It was the first weekend of term, and everyone was talking about how they were planning to spend it. As Harry made his way into the common room, there was a small explosion. Nobody was hurt at all, and most of the older students weren't phased by it, since they had been there while the Weasley twins were in their prime, but with Fred and George having graduated, explosions weren't as common anymore. This explosion had a purpose, when the smoke had cleared there was a large banner in the middle of the room. The banner read "HARRY POTTER, WILL YOU ACCOMPANY ME TO THE HALLOWEEN BALL? GINNY." Harry looked over at Ginny, who had gone slightly red, and gave her his answer, "Of course I will Ginny, and it will be my honor." The whole of Gryffindor tower cheered.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, only to find it closed with a notice posted on the door, "Breakfast will be delayed for a short while due to problems in the kitchen. Pardon the inconvenience. Professor Dumbledore." "Great, just great." Ron grumbled, "I bet Peeves frightened the house elves again. Now what do we do?"

"We could go outside, maybe go visit Hagrid." Harry suggested.

They walked outside, where they were greeted by the sight of a large group of girls watching something. "What's going on?" Hermione asked, but before anyone could answer she saw what was happening for herself. Ken was standing out on the grounds, holding what appeared to be a wooden sword in his hands, with his eyes closed. He was wearing a tank top, which showcased the physique that he had kept hidden in his school robes since he had arrived. He was incredibly well built for his body size. Most of the girls were practically drooling over him. Hermione was stunned for a second, but then she noticed the bandages on his upper right arm, which were now visible. 'I wonder what happened there.' She thought.

Ken hadn't really noticed the growing crowd watching. He hadn't noticed the girls staring at him, not even the ones who had actually begun to drool. This was partly because his eyes had been closed the whole time. But mainly he hadn't noticed because he was in deep concentration. He was focusing his mind, trying to make it work perfectly with his body. It used to be that he didn't even need to make the two work together, but this morning's training had proven that he was having trouble. He had been training since sunrise, and normally he wouldn't have even broken a sweat, but he was sweating bullets now. His patience was slipping, and he was becoming very annoyed with himself. In his annoyance, memories began to flash through his head. Memories of his family, memories of his training, and memories of his sword master's scolding came bubbling up first. Then came the memories of Nicole, and how she died. He could see her blood flowing freely from the slash mark on her back. He heard the maniacal laughter of her killer ringing in his ear. All these memories, bad or good were what caused what happened next.

Hermione could see the expression on Ken's face change. The look of concentration had disappeared, and now he wore a look of anger on his face. She edged closer to him and whispered, "Ken, what's wrong?" Suddenly his eyes shot open. Hermione was startled to see flecks of gold beginning to appear in the violet eyes. Then without warning, Ken let out a loud yell. To most people, it sounded like a battle call, but Hermione felt that it was born more out of pain than out of battle lust. Just as suddenly as he had began yelling, he brought the wooden practice sword down in a powerful stroke. But it wasn't any ordinary swing; it seemed to emit a shockwave. The shockwave traveled along the ground, splitting the earth open as it traveled. Then, a huge boulder appeared out of nowhere right in the shockwave's path. When the shockwave collided with the boulder, the massive rock shattered, yet the shockwave dissipated instantly.

"Very impressive Mr. Smith." Said Professor Dumbledore, who had walked out onto the lawn while no one was paying attention. His wand was out and pointed at where the boulder appeared, he had obviously been the person who had conjured it. He continued; "However, now that the Great Hall is open, I think it would be advisable for everyone to go have a hearty breakfast. Afterwards, feel free to do whatever you like. Within reason." Everyone began to head back into the castle. Hermione walked over to Ken, but before she could say anything she noticed something. The bandages on his arm were now red with blood.

"C'mon Mione." Ken said, "Lets go eat." Hermione and Ken walked back into the castle together. Deep in the back of her mind, Hermione thought to herself, 'I wonder what he's hiding under those bandages, and why he started bleeding for no reason. I swear I'm going to find out what causes him so much pain.'

Man, that took forever. Well, I suppose the move I just went through didn't help things. I promise the next chapter won't take as long. Next Chapter, Revelations.


	5. Revelation

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or Ruroni Kenshin. If I did, this wouldn't be a FAN Fiction.

Authors note: I'm sorry for taking so long on this chapter, but my life has been a roller coaster lately. My thanks to all the people you reviewed this story, you saved it from being thrown on the trash heap. Also, due to the events of book #5, this story has become an alternate universe story. The person who died in the book is still dead in this story. However, since I can't really go back and change certain things, I'm just changing this into an AU fic. Also, the voice in the back of her head that Hermione keeps arguing with isn't a sign that she's gone crazy; it's just that nagging little voice that we all have and argue with from time to time.

'' Thoughts "" speech

Chapter 5: Revelation

Everybody filed into the Great Hall for breakfast, talking excitedly about Ken's little "demonstration" out on the grounds. Ken, however, walked into the hall in a daze, and sat down without saying a word to anyone. He was to busy thinking to himself. 'I can't believe I lost control like that. I was lucky that Professor Dumbledore was there and conjured up that boulder, otherwise someone could have gotten hurt.' His thoughts continued along these lines as he began to eat, and he became completely oblivious to anything else that was going on. At one point he became vaguely aware that Lavender Brown had walked up, and started talking to him. He hadn't paid attention to a word she'd said, but he realized she had asked him some sort of question. So, without thinking, Ken said "Yeah, sure."

He was about to and a "whatever" to that, but he was cut off by a high pitch squeal, which snapped him out of his daze. This was followed by Lavender grabbing him around the chest, hugging him, and saying things like "I'm so glad you said yes! We're going to have such a good time!" She let him go, saying something about figuring out what to wear. She didn't seem to realize, as she ran off, that her hug had set Ken off balance in his seat, and when she let go, he was too shocked to regain it. He fell, out of his chair, and landed flat on his back with a loud thud.

Everybody in the hall broke out laughing for a few minutes, while Ken just lay there and blinked a few times. When the laughter died down, Ken looked over at Ron and asked "Um Ron, what did Lavender just ask me? I kinda wasn't paying attention."

Ron chuckled and told him "Well, basically she just asked you to the Halloween Ball, and you said yes. Congratulations mate! You just got asked to the Ball by one of the hottest girls in Gryffindor."

'Ah crap' he thought, 'I didn't really want to go to the ball. Guess I've lost any choice in the matter. I can't back out now, not without looking like a total jackass. I think I need to go for a run.' He got up off the floor, dusted himself off, and told the others "I'll see you guys later, I'm going for a run."

As Ken walked out of the Great Hall, he noticed that Hermione looked upset about something. He decided to ask her about it when he got back, but right now he had to get his head straightened out. He walked right out through the entrance hall, down the steps, and then broke into a brisk jog towards the lake. As he jogged, he looked around to see if there was anybody else outside. When he didn't see anyone, he sped up to his full speed and headed toward the Forbidden Forest. If anyone had been outside, they would have seen Ken turn into a blur, he was moving so fast. He didn't slow down again until he reached the edge of the forest, were he took another look around. Then, thoroughly convinced that nobody was watching him, he transformed into his animagus form of a coyote, and ran off into the forest.

Hermione walked up to Gryffindor tower, visibly upset. She had been planning on asking Ken to the Halloween Ball after breakfast, but Lavender had beaten her to him. Now there was no one left that she knew for her to ask to the Ball. But that was not what was bothering her. She had realized only last night that she was developing a crush on Ken, and she had really wanted to ask him to the Ball. But now Ken was going with Lavender, and ever other eligible bachelor that she knew had a date or was going to be asked soon. 'It's only a stupid dance.' She told her self, but the little voice in the back of her head spoke up, 'If it's just a stupid dance, why are you so upset about it?' She promptly told the voice to shut up, and tried to forget her problems by reading her copy of A Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6.

Two hours later, Ken returned to Gryffindor Tower, covered in sweat and incredibly tired. He went up to his dorm's bathroom, and took a nice hot shower, all the while trying to figure out a way to get out of going to the ball. 'Still no way out of it, not without hurting Lavender and I don't want to do that. I really don't want to go to this ball, but I don't have any choice in the matter, now that I've agreed to it. That'll teach me to answer when I'm not paying attention. I need to take my mind off of things, might as well go read for a while.' Ken finished his shower, put on a fresh set of clothes, and rummaged through his trunk for a book to read. He had finished reading _The Great Gatsby_ the night before, and was trying to decide what to read now. He settled on _Journey to the West_, and headed down to the common room.

In the common room, Hermione had given up on her textbook and was simply staring at the fire. Ken noticed her sitting there by herself, and remembered that she had looked upset earlier, and went over to check on her. "Hey Hermione, you okay?" he asked, "You looked upset about something earlier."

Hermione was snapped from her train of thought by his voice, and she motioned for him to sit down as she answered him, "I'm okay, just for some reason this whole ball things got me a little out of sorts."

"You're not the only one," said Ken, "I don't even want to go, but Lavender asked me when my mind was elsewhere, and now I lost all choice in the matter. Ah well, c'est la vie. So have you asked anybody yet?" He realized that was the wrong question to ask when he saw the expression on her face fall.

Hermione cleared her throat and said, "There's really nobody left to ask anymore. It's probably some sort of record, an entire student body of guys asked to a dance within 24 hours of it being announced. And since there's more girls than guys at Hogwarts, that means that a few girls will be without a date. This time I happen to be one of them." She sighed, and went back to staring into the fire.

"It seems to me that you and I have the flipsides of the same problem." Ken said, drawing Hermione's attention away from the fire again, "You don't have a date, and wish you did. I have a date and wish I didn't." Hermione looked at him and noticed something different in his eyes. Instead of the normal vibrant violet color his eyes normally were, they were now dark purple, which was becoming even duller looking with every second. A deep sadness seemed to fill his eyes, and Hermione felt a strange twinge in her heart.

She reached out and put her hand on his cheek, and in a hesitant voice asked, "Why don't you want to go to the ball?"

Instantly, his eyes registered another emotion; great pain and anguish. Ken lowered his voice and said in a halting voice, "I'll tell you, but I ask that you not say a word to anyone about it." Hermione nodded, and Ken took a deep breath.

As he started to speak, his voice became very distant, as did his eyes. "The last ball I attended was the Christmas ball at Salem. I went with my girlfriend Nicole, and it was the last time we were together. Shortly after the ball ended she was murdered." Hermione gasped in shock, and she took her hand from his cheek and let it drop to her side. Ken cleared his throat and continued, "We had decided to leave the dance early and take a walk around the school grounds and talk. Eventually we ended up at her favorite place on the grounds, where I did something that I had never been able up until that night. I told her that I loved her. And my heart soared when she told me she loved me too. It was after this, and after we kissed, that it happened. A man appeared out of nowhere and slashed her across the back with a blade. Apparently the blade had been cursed in some way, because her blood came shooting out of her much faster than it should have. She managed to tell me she loved me one last time before she died in my arms." His voice broke, he seemed to be choking on his words, and couldn't carry on with the story. He bowed his head and closed his eyes; he seemed to be fighting of the tears that had been welling up in his eyes. Hermione put here hand on his shoulder, in what she admitted to herself was a pathetic attempt to comfort him. After a few minutes Ken regained his composure, and continued his story; "I went after the guy who killed her the next morning. I was able to track him down after a few hours, and we fought. I wasn't able to bring my personal sword to school, and besides it's designed to make my sword fighting style almost completely non lethal, so I found an old Japanese sword at the museum in the school and used it in the battle. It was a little too old, and my opponent was an incredibly skilled sword fighter. I wasn't able to kill him; in fact he almost killed me. Instead, he left me lying there bleeding from a minor stab wound in the gut, and he ran away. But he left me something to remind me of the whole thing." As he said this, Ken pulled up the right sleeve of the shirt he was wearing, and started unwrapping the bandages that he always wore on it. What Hermione saw he finished unwrapping the bandages, made her gasp in shock. On Ken's upper right arm there was a huge scar, it was shaped like a cross and was almost as long as his upper arm. It also looked like it was freshly healed, as if it had only been cut a week or so ago or had reopened recently. "He gave me this scar to remind me that I had failed to protect the girl I loved, or to defeat her killer." Ken said, before he grimaced in pain. Hermione looked on in horror as the scar on Ken's arm reopened and started to trickle blood. She started to look around for something to stop the bleeding with, and ended up grabbing the recently removed bandages and pressing them to the wound. Ken groaned in pain, and then looked Hermione straight in the eye and asked, "Hermione, can you please help me get to the hospital wing?" She nodded, and helped him stand up. He was standing very shakily, so she grabbed his other arm and threw it over her shoulders so he could lean on her for support. They slowly walked out of Gryffindor tower, and headed for the hospital wing.

They made it to the hospital wing without any trouble, and as they entered Hermione called out for Madam Pomfrey. She entered, and when she saw Ken standing there bleeding from his arm, she chuckled and said "This is the third time this week, Mr. Smith, I thought we talked about this."

Ken looked at her and simply stated, "This isn't something that I can just not think about. Even if I try, it just makes things worse when the memories come flooding back to me." Madame Pomfrey tuted as she healed his arm, only acknowledging that Hermione was there when she finished, and that was simply by asking her to rebandage the arm. When Madam Pomfrey had gone back to her office, Ken spoke up again, "I'm sorry if I scared you with that. The scar reopens every time I have a surge of memories about Nicole's death. At first I thought it was some kind of curse or jinx, but according to Dumbledore, it's caused by something deep down in my psyche. According to him I have to deal with the memories and move through this, but that's kind of hard considering what happens when I think about what happened." Ken motioned to the door, had he and Hermione exited the hospital wing and headed to the Great Hall for dinner.

They didn't say a word to each other until the neared the Hall, when Ken turned to Hermione and asked, "Can you please keep everything I've told you this afternoon a secret, I really don't want anybody else knowing about it."

Hermione looked into his eyes again as he said this, and noticed that although they seemed to have returned to their normal state, there was still a trace of pain and sorrow in them. "Of course I will. And just so you know, if you ever want to talk to anybody about it, you can always talk to me."

Ken smiled for the first time in hours, and said a quick "Thanks" before they entered the Great Hall.

At dinner, Ken was acting as if there was nothing wrong in the world, although he did occasionally wince when someone congratulated him on having Lavender as his date to the Ball. But Hermione said very little and ate even less; she was completely lost in thought. 'He's so good at hiding the pain he's in; I wonder why he confessed it to me.' She thought, to which the little voice in the back f her head replied, 'Maybe it's because he likes you. He told you something that he's keeping from everybody else, so he obviously feels something for you.' 'That's not it, but at least it seems that he considers me a friend to tell me what he did' She thought back, after which the voice chuckled and said, 'Yeah right, just friends. He likes you, admit it.' Hermione told the voice to stuff it and returned to Gryffindor tower with the others. She went up to her dormitory, changed, and went to bed. Eventually she drifted off to an uneasy sleep; think about everything that she had learned about Ken that day. One thing was certain; her friendship with Ken was going to be every bit as interesting as her friendship with Harry.

End of chapter 5


	6. Family

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Ruroni Kenshin. I would have thought that most people would have figured that out by now.

Author's note: Like I said last chapter, due to the events of Order of the Phoenix, this is now an a/u fic. Also, I'd like to apologize again about the amount of time it took me to get that last chapter up.

"" Speech

''Thoughts

Chapter 6: Family

Time passed, as it always does, and the weeks before Halloween went by quickly. The sixth year Gryffindors found that their class load had actually lightened up slightly compared to last year, now that they didn't have the O.W.L.s to worry about. Over the past month or so Ken and Hermione had become very close friends, and Ken had become the newest member of the former trio, now called the quintet. The trio had become the quartet during the summer when Ginny and Harry had started dating, and now Ken had become the fifth member.

At Ken's request, Hermione had not told anybody the story about Ken's late girlfriend. The two of them continued tutoring each other; Hermione had really started to get the hang of Japanese, and Ken had finally managed to get past his mental block in Charms and was doing fine in the class. Seamus had noticed how much time they were spending together, and had asked them if they were going out or something. Even thought they had told him they weren't, Seamus and his girlfriend Parvati kept bugging them about how they thought they would make a "cute couple". The rest of the school had calmed down from the hysteria that the announcement of the ball, and things had pretty much gotten back to normal.

The Monday of the week of Halloween, Ken rushed into the Great Hall five minutes before breakfast normally stopped being served, looking like he had just woken up. He grabbed as much food as he could, sat down, and started to eat at a rate that Ron would be impressed by. Seamus noticed how tired and disorganized he looked, and asked; "Hey Ken, you okay?"

Ken swallowed bacon he had been eating, and replied; "I'm fine, I just didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night."

Seamus' face broke into a grin as he said; "Late night huh? What's the matter? Your little snogging, I mean tutoring, session with Hermione run too long?" Ken shot him an annoyed look as he went back to eating as rapidly as he could.

After he finished his breakfast, Dumbledore walked up to him as he was gathering his stuff for class. Dumbledore asked Ken to come to his office for a few minutes before class. As Ken followed him to his office, Dumbledore said; "Due to the return of Lord Voldermort, the Ministry of Magic has decided to station an Auror at Hogwarts full time."

"That's a good idea Professor, but what does it have to do with me?" Ken asked as they went up the moving stairs that led to Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore smiled as he opened the door to the office and said; "The Auror I've hired is your older sister."

Standing in the office was Ken's older sister Anna. When she saw him, she ran over to him and hugged him before he had a chance to react. After a few seconds he returned the hug as best he could, he wasn't able to move much because she was holding him a little too tightly. After she let up her bear hug, she said, "Ken, I've missed you so much! I haven't seen you for so long! Look at you, you've grown so much!" She let go of him, and Ken looked at his sister for the first time in nearly three years. She was actually slightly shorter than he was now, she had towered over him most of his life. She had also cut her blonde hair short since he had last seen her. But other than that she looked the same as she did the day she became an Auror, which had been the last time they had seen each other.

Dumbledore gave Ken the rest of the day off to show his sister around the school and so that they could catch up. They spent the morning touring the castle, and by lunchtime they had started to tour the grounds. When the bell rang, signifying lunch, Ken started back to the castle. Anna grabbed his arm and stopped him, saying; "Ken, I there's something I want to talk to you about. This is our best chance since everybody's at lunch and there's no chance of anyone overhearing us." Ken looked at her questioningly, and she continued; "Mom told me about what happened, with Nicole. How are you holding up?"

Ken's eyes clouded, and his face took on a very depressed look as he answered; "I'm not holding up that well, all things considered. I still wake up in the middle of the night after seeing her die over and over in my nightmares. My scar still reopens every time I think about her when I'm awake. The Ball this Friday is bringing back bad memories every time I think about it. And if that wasn't bad enough, a girl asked me when I wasn't really paying attention, and I agreed without knowing what I was being asked, so now I have a date to the Ball that I can't get out of. I'm really beginning to hate my life." After saying this, Ken felt better than he had in a while; it helped to get it out of his system.

Anna put a comforting arm around her younger brothers' shoulder. Then she said, in a very comforting voice; "Its okay, you've been through a lot over the past ten months. I'm a little surprised you're doing as well as you are. You're tougher than I remember little bro. But you might be making it a little harder on yourself than necessary. Is there anybody here that you trust enough to talk about this to? I think it might help." Ken sighed, and told her that there was somebody at Hogwarts that he felt he could talk to. She smile and asked; "Who?"

Ken took a deep breath, then said; "Her name is Hermione, one of the sixth year girls in my house. She's top of our year, and the brightest student in school. She helped me get through my mental block in Charms, the one that formed after Nicole died, and I've been teaching her Japanese. She's also one of the kindest people I've met in my life. She's got a good heart, and just what are you smiling about?" A smile had been forming on Anna's lips ever since Ken had started talking about Hermione.

Anna chuckled, and said; "I think that you've got a bit of a thing for this girl. Your eyes light up when you talk about her. The only other time I've seen them light up like that was when you used to talk about Nicole. So, why don't you talk to Hermione about what happened? It sounds like she could help you deal with it."

"Thing is, I've already told her about what happened, I just left a few parts out." Ken explained. Anna asked him; "Which parts?" Ken took a deep breath, and answered; "I didn't teller her who killed Nicole. I didn't tell her that my own brother cut her open with the sword our parents gave him for his graduation! I didn't tell her that Shishio killed the girl I love!" Ken was yelling by this point, he was angry as hell. His face was flushed, and his eyes had shifted colors again, they were almost completely gold.

Anna backed a few steps away from him; she had seen him angry before but never anything like this. She was starting to wonder how she could possibly calm him down, when something happened that she never would've expected. Ken's head dropped, and it was obvious that he was on the edge of tears. Then he said; "He killed her. He killed her Anna. He killed her just because she was a muggle-born. I'll never forgive him. In fact, if I ever see Shishio again, I'm going to kill him."

Everything was silent for a few minutes. Neither Ken nor Anna moved or said anything. The silence wasn't broken until a bell sounded in the direction of the school. Ken chuckled and said; "Damn, looks like we missed lunch completely. Come on, my friend Harry showed me how to get into the kitchen. The house elves are always willing to fix something for anybody who missed a meal." The two of them headed back into the castle. By the time they reached it and headed toward the kitchens, everybody had already gone to class.

After eating, they went up to Anna's new office and talked until it was time for dinner. She told Ken to go on ahead, and she would be along in a few minutes. Ken went down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, he was actually the first to show up. After a few minutes, people started to wander in. Hermione, who was one of the first Gryffindors to arrive, sat down next to him and asked; "Where have you been all day? Professor McGonagall said that Professor Dumbledore gave you the day off of classes for some reason. What were you up to all day?" Ken told her that his older sister was at Hogwarts, and that he had been showing her around the school all day. By this time, most of the other Gryffindors had arrived and dinner was just about to start.

"Hi Ken, missed you in class today." said Lavender as she sat down across from him. Lavender had been flirting with Ken almost non-stop since he agreed to go to the ball with her. Even though Ken didn't flirt back, she wasn't the least bit discouraged. During the last Hogsmeade visit she had dragged him away from the rest of the quintet to help her pick out her costume for the ball. Ken took it all in stride, but Hermione was starting to get annoyed by Lavenders behavior.

Hermione's crush on Ken had not gone away, but she was now very careful to not let it show. She had reasoned that the last thing he needed was for her to act smitten with him while he was still recovering from his late girlfriend's death. Hermione was willing to be patient and to let him deal with his pain, and simply comfort him as much as she could.

Lavender, on the other hand, didn't know about Ken's late girlfriend and seemed determined to make him her boyfriend. She flirted openly with him constantly, almost to the point that it was annoying to people around them.

At this point, everybody had arrived in the hall and sat down. Professor Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. "Before we dig into this excellent dinner, I have an announcement to make." He began; "Due to the return of the Dark Lord, The Ministry of Magic has decided to station an Auror here at Hogwarts. The Auror they have stationed at the school has come here all the way from America. Now she will not have the ability to deduct house points except in matters involving school security, due to a possible conflict in interest. However, she has been given power to suspend or even expel students who have caused a breach in security. It is my pleasure to introduce Miss Anastasia Smith."

Anna entered the hall through the main doors, and walked up to the teacher's table, with the full attention of almost the entire male population of the school focused on her. When she reached the table, she turned around and smiled at the student body. She cleared her throat and said; "Thank you Headmaster. Well, as you just heard, my name is Miss Smith. I honestly hope that my Auror skills won't be needed this year. But if any of you hear about anything that could threaten the security of this school, please tell me immediately. Any questions?"

A few people raised their hands, mainly Hufflepuffs and a few Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, but not a single Slytherin seemed to have a question for her. Anna looked around the hall, and then pointed at one of the Hufflepuffs. The third year stood up and asked; "Pardon me for asking, but what is the possible conflict of interests that Professor Dumbledore mentioned?"

Anna looked at Dumbledore and whispered something. He nodded, and then she looked at Ken, who also nodded his approval. The she turned back to the student and answered; "The possible conflict of interest comes from the fact that my younger brother Ken is a student here. Certain staff members seemed to think that I might favor his house and go out of my way to take points from the other houses."

After saying this she glared at Snape for a second, but only Dumbledore and a few of the other teachers noticed it. Everybody else in the hall was now staring at Ken like he had grown a second head. This only stopped when Dumbledore cleared his throat and asked if there were any more questions. There where none, so Anna joined the staff table and dinner began. After everybody had eaten a little, they started bombarding Ken with questions about Anna, such as; "Is that why you weren't in class today? She's really your sister? Why didn't you tell us that you had a sister?" Ken answered each question very quickly and barely touched his dinner. He excused himself from dinner before anybody had even finished the main course and left the Great Hall.

A few minutes after Ken left, Hermione followed Ken's lead and excused herself from dinner. As she walked out of the dinning hall, she didn't notice that Lavender was glaring at her as she left. Hermione walked to Gryffindor Tower, and gave the fat lady the password. She walked into the common room, where she found Ken sitting on the couch with his face practically buried in his copy of _Journey to the West_. She walked over to the couch, sat down, and asked; "Ken, what's wrong? Why sis you leave dinner so early?"

Ken put the book down and looked at her for a second. Hermione noticed that his eyes looked just as they had when he had told her about Nicole. Then Ken said, in a very weary voice; "I'm just tired. I haven't had a full night of sleep for two weeks. I keep having nightmares."

Hermione dropped her gaze, and saw that his hands were clinched so tightly into fists that his knuckles were completely white. She said; "Your nightmares have something to so with Nicole, don't they? Never mind, I know they do. I can tell by your eyes. Your eyes look so much different when you talk about her; they're so cold and dull looking. Listen, I don't know if there's anything I can do to help, but I want to help you through this."

Hermione looked at Ken's face again. He had his head tilted down so he looked like he was staring at the book in his lap. But his eyes weren't focusing on anything; he seemed to be lost in thought. The he spoke, in a hoarse voice saying; "In my dreams, I keep on seeing Nicole die over and over again. Every time I see it happen I hear this little voice telling me I could have stopped it from happening. And its right, I could have stopped it, I could have saved her. Every night the dreams get worse, I'm getting to where I can't take it anymore. It's my fault she died, it's all my fault."

Hermione could tell that ken was fighting back tears, and he was losing that battle. She moved closer to him on the couch, and wrapped her arms around him in a hug that was meant to be comforting, and whispered; "I know you're trying to keep from crying right now. Don't. It's just you and me here, and I won't think any less of you if you do. Listen, I meant what I said; I want to help you in any way I can. If you need me, I'm here for you."

At this, Ken finally broke down and buried his head in her shoulder, letting the tears flow from his eyes. Hermione just sat there hugging him and whispering "Its okay." They stayed like that for over a while, until they could hear the sounds of the rest of the Gryffindors returning to the tower. Ken slowly broke away from the hug and looked Hermione in the eyes. Hermione noticed that even though his eyes were still dull and distant looking, there was now a glimmer in them that hadn't been there before.

After a few seconds, Ken said: "Thank you Hermione, I really needed that. But now I think I'd better go and try to get some sleep, I'm exhausted. Goodnight and thank you." Hermione replied with a simple goodnight and watched Ken as he walked up the stairs to the dormitory.

By this time, the common room had begun to fill up with people. Ginny and Harry walked over to the couch where Hermione was sitting as sat down next to her. Ginny cleared her throat and asked; "Why did you leave dinner so early?"

Hermione replied; "I wanted to talk to Ken. He's been going through a tough time lately and I wanted to see if he was okay."

Harry's face became serious looking for a minute, and he asked her; "Did Ken tell you anything about the nightmares he's been having?" Hermione's eye grew wide and she asked Harry how he knew about the nightmares. Harry said; "He wakes at least one of us every time he has one. Ron and the others are starting to get kind of annoyed by it." Hermione nodded and then told Harry that Ken had told her about the nightmares, but he had asked her not to tell anyone else about it. Then she told them she had to go one her prefect patrol, and stood up and walked to the portrait hole.

Just as she reached the portrait hole, she was stopped. Not by Harry or Ginny, but by Lavender, who said; "Hermione, warning you, stay away from my man. Ken and I are bound to be a couple by the end of this week. If you get in the way of that, you will be sorry." Lavender walked off towards her friend Parvati, while Hermione stared at her in total shock.

Her shock turned into anger, and she was fuming as she walked out of the tower and started her patrol. 'That bitch! Lavender doesn't give a damn about ken's feelings; she just wants him for his looks. She doesn't even realize that he's not even interested in her.' Her thoughts continued on this track, until she was brought back to earth by the fact that she bumped right into someone. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I was kinda lost in thought and I didn't see you" she said while she helped the person she ran into stand back up.

It turned out that the person that she had run into was Ken's sister Anna. Anna smile and said; "Its okay, just pay more attention next time. By the way, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find Hermione Granger; I would like to talk to her."

Hermione asked her; "I'm Hermione Granger, why do you want to talk to me?"

Anna smiled and said; "I wanted to thank you. Thank you for being there for Ken. Our entire family has been worried about him since the incident. But it seems that you've helped him a little bit, and I'm grateful for it."

Hermione blushed and looked at the floor as she responded; "You're welcome. I'm glad that what little I've done has helped him. I just hope I can help him through this; I really don't like to see him hurting like this. Now, I'd better get back to my patrol. Again, I'm sorry that I knocked you down." After saying this Hermione turned and hurried down the hall.

Anna watched Hermione walk away, and then started walking back to her office. As she walked, she thought; 'Well I'll be damned, she has a crush on him. She's the perfect person to help Ken through this. I just hope that Saito can find and stop Shishio before he makes it here.'

End of Chapter 6


	7. The Halloween Ball

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Ruroni Kenshin. I also do not own the song Hemorrhage, Fuel does.

Authors note: This story has changed so much since I first came up with the concept; I've had a bit of trouble making the changes work. I'm not going to say any more right now, but the next few chapters should be very interesting. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: The Halloween Ball

The rest of the week passed without incident, and now the night of the Halloween Ball had arrived. The Gryffindor common room was a scene of nervous chaos; people were rushing around all over the place trying to get ready for the ball. Hermione sat on a couch watching the hustle and bustle around her. She was wearing a set of sky blue dress robes that were similar to the periwinkle robes she wore to the Yule Ball in her fourth year. She had decided to go to the ball alone; she had just stood up to leave when Ken walked down the stairs in his costume.

Ken had decided to go to the ball dressed as a samurai, and he had done a good job with his costume. He wore a traditional style samurai gi made of deep blue cloth. On the gi there was a dragon embroidered in gold wrapping around it starting with the head on the left shoulder and the tip of the tail on the right pant leg. Ken had slicked back his normally shaggy hair and put it into a samurai topknot, but he left his bangs alone, so they slightly covered his face. The final piece of his costume was a sheathed sword, tucked into the sash around his waist.

Most people who saw it thought the sword was some sort of prop, but Hermione knew better. Not only was the sword real, but also it was different from most samurai swords. It was a sakabato, or reversed blade sword. It was the same shape as a normal samurai sword, but blade and the dull side were switched. This way if it were swung normally, the sword wouldn't cut anybody, it would just hurt like hell. Hermione was there when Dumbledore himself delivered it to Ken, saying that he could keep it at school after the Ball, as long as he kept it hidden.

"You look great, Ken, your costume really turned out well." Hermione said as he walked over to her.

"Thanks Hermione. And might I say, you look absolutely stunning in those robes." Ken replied. The two stood there chatting for a few minutes until Lavender came down. Lavender was wearing a lavender kimono and had her hair loose and flowing down her back. She gave Hermione a nasty look before turning to Ken and asking him if he was ready to go. He nodded yes, and said a quick goodbye to Hermione before he was led out of the room by Lavender. A few minutes later, Hermione left for the ball by herself.

An hour later the Halloween Ball was in full swing. The Great Hall was decorated as usual with the hundreds of floating jack-o-lanterns, and Hagrid had again carved two enormous jack-o-lanterns that stood on the sides of the teacher's table. All the other tables had been removed, and a stage had been conjured off two one side. On the stage a band was playing, and just above the drummer they had hung a black banner with the band's name, "Gollum's Addiction", written in large orange letters. Most of the students were on the dance floor having a great time, but there were a few sitting on chairs that had been set up along the walls.

Hermione was one of the people sitting off to the side. She had been sitting there most of the night, except when one of the Gryffindor guys came up and asked her to dance, but that only had happened twice. She was about to leave when Ken walked up to her. "Hey Hermione, care to dance?" he asked. Hermione smiled and said sure, and they walked out onto the dance floor and began to dance. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Lavender was glaring at them. Ken looked over at her and chuckled, before saying, "I don't think I've ever met someone as jealous or possessive as Lavender before. All night she's been scarring off any girl who had the guts to come up to me and ask me for a dance."

Hermione giggled before saying, "Its because she's convinced that you two are the perfect couple."

Ken shook his head and replied, "I don't know where she got that idea. I don't like her like that, and even if I did, there's no way in hell that I'm ready for a relationship like that with anyone yet. It's been tough for me to just be here at a ball after what happened."

Hermione gave him a comforting smile, and they continued to dance in silence. When the song ended, Ken thanked her and headed toward the stage. As she walked back to her seat, she was stopped by Lavender, who in very menacing tones said, "I thought I told you to stay away from my man!"

Hermione was about to tell her off, but she was stopped by Dumbledore's voice coming from the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen,' he said, "I am pleased to see all of you here this evening. I wish to thank the wonderful band "Gollum's Addiction" for agreeing to play here tonight. And now I am pleased to announce that one of our own students, Mr. Ken Smith of Gryffindor, has agreed to sing for us to night. Ladies and gentlemen, give him a hand!"

Hermione's jaw dropped as she saw Ken walk onto the stage. He had changed out of his costume and was now wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The shirt was black and skin tight, showing off his very impressive physique, and it had the words "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" printed on it. The jeans weren't tight like the shirt, but the weren't baggy either, they seemed to fit perfectly. To top it all off Ken was wearing his hair down, instead of the topknot of his costume or his normal ponytail. It now resembled a very shaggy mane of hair, wild and unpredictable. Half the girls in the hall were openly ogling him. Ken, however, seemed unphased by all the attention he was getting as he walked up to the magical microphone. He took a deep breath, and began to sing in a deep, melodic voice:

_Memories are just where you laid them,_

_drag the waters till the depths give up their dead_

_What did you expect to find?_

_Was there something you left behind?_

_Don't you remember anything I said when I said,_

_Don't fall away, and leave me to myself._

_Don't fall away and leave love bleeding_

_in my hands, in my hands again,_

_leave love bleeding in my hands,_

_in my hands, love lies bleeding_

_Oh hold me now I feel contagious,_

_Am I the only place that you've left to go?_

_She cries her life is like,_

_some movie black and white_

_.Dead actors faking lines,_

_over and over and over again she cries._

_Don't fall away, and leave me to myself_

_don't fall away, and leave love bleeding_

_In my hands, in my hands again_

_Leave love bleeding_

_In my hands, in my hands_

_Love lies bleeding_

_And I wanted, you turned away,_

_You don't remember, _

_but I do._

_You never even tried._

_Don't fall away and leave me to myself_

_Don't fall away and leave love bleeding_

_in my hands, in my hands again,_

_leave love bleeding,_

_in my hands, in my hands, _

_love lies bleeding._

During the last few seconds of the song, Ken had walked to the front of the stage and kneeled down on both his knees. Meanwhile Hermione had walked up to the stage, her eyes having never left Ken since he had started to sing. Ken climbed off the stage and began to walk to the door, his left hand clutching his right arm where his bandage was just barely visible and was turning red. Hermione ran up to help him, but when she reached him, somebody pulled her back and pushed her off to the side. Harry, who was standing nearby, managed to catch her before she fell, and she saw that it was Lavender who had pushed her. Lavender was now talking to Ken in a panicky voice, "Are you okay? What's the matter?" Then she calmed down, looked him in the face and said, "Don't worry, I'll do whatever I can to make it all better." Then she kissed him full on the lips.

A split second later, Lavender landed on the floor butt first. Ken had pushed her off of him with his good arm, but the damage had been done. A few seconds later he let out a guttural yell of pain and blood started running down his right arm very quickly. Madame Pomfrey, who had luckily decided to attend the Ball, quickly levitated him onto a stretcher that she conjured and levitated him right out of the Great Hall. Hermione was following very closely, running in order to keep up.

After they had left, Dumbledore announced that the Ball was over, and everybody began to head back to their dorms. One thing was running through everybody's heads though: "What the hell just happened?"

End of Chapter 7


	8. Hospitality

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter I don't own Ruroni Kenshin. You think that would have sunk in by now. And I don't own the song "Hurt" by Trent Reznor, but this is the Johnny Cash version. Authors note: okay, I know I said I'd try to write this story a little faster, but give me a break! It's tough being a film major.

Chapter 8: Hospitality

When Madam Pomfrey and Hermione managed to get Ken into a bed in the hospital wing, he was in terrible shape and unconscious. His skin was very pale, almost ghostly. He had lost a great deal of blood, but his arm had finally stopped bleeding. Madam Pomfrey began checking his vital signs, while Hermione sat next to him holding his hand, hoping he was going to be all right. After a few minutes, Pomfrey turned to her and said, "We have to give him a blood transfusion. And he's to week for a transfusion charm, so we have to do this the Muggle way." She then muttered a spell, and a bolt of light came out of her wand and went into Ken, then came out again. The bolt then shot into Hermione and caused her to glow. Madam Pomfrey looked surprised, and said "Hmm, that's interesting, you and mister Smith here have the same blood type. Would you be willing to give him some of your blood?"

Hermione thought about it for maybe a tenth of a second before saying, "Yes, anything as long as it helps Ken get better." Madam Pomfrey nodded, and instructed her to lie down in the bed next to Ken's bed. After a few seconds of preparation, she cleaned a spot on Hermione's arm and inserted an IV needle and tube. She then repeated the procedure with Ken's arm. She then hooked both tubes to an odd looking machine on a stand between the two beds. After a few seconds there was a steady flow of blood through the tube in her arm, into the machine where it was screened for any harmful disease or content, and though the other tube into Ken's arm. Hermione was only able to stay awake for a few seconds, as the blood drain and excitement of the evening wore her out, but before she fell asleep, she managed to say "Please work, please get better Ken. I don't think I can stand it if this doesn't work. Please survive this Ken, please." After that she fell into a deep sleep.

Two days passed, and Ken was in stable condition, but still unconscious. He was sleeping peacefully in the hospital wing, and Hermione had spent most of the time there with him. A few of their friends had been by to see how he was, but Pomfrey had not allowed them to come in. Hermione was incredibly worried about Ken, and she felt totally helpless. At noon on the third day, Pomfrey did allow one other person to visit Ken, his sister Anna. "How is he? Has there been any change?" she asked, as she walked in carrying a guitar case in one hand.

"None whatsoever." Hermione replied, her voice full of worry. Hermione looked terrible; she had barely slept the entire time Ken had been in the hospital wing. Her face was full of concern. 'If only I had gotten there and helped him out of the hall before Lavender got to him.' was the thought that kept running through her mind. She had half convinced herself that if she had been able to do this, Ken would have never gotten this bad.

Just by looking at her, Anna could tell that Hermione somehow blamed herself for Ken's condition. "Its not your fault you know. Even if you had stopped Lavender from kissing him, it was only a matter of time before he had an episode like this. I've been worried that this was going to happen ever since Nicole died." Anna told her, putting down the guitar case. Hermione looked up at her with a slightly shocked look in her eyes. "Let me guess, you're wondering how I knew you were blaming yourself, and how I knew that this was going to happen." Anna said with a chuckle, to which Hermione nodded. Anna took a deep breath and said "Well, I could tell that you blame yourself just by the look on your face and the fact that you haven't left his side. As for Nicole, well." She sighed and sat down in a chair across from Hermione.

Anna took a deep breath and then began to speak, "Ken was always the shy one in the family. Keep in mind he's the youngest of five children. He was never really been outspoken about his emotions, he preferred to keep them to himself. Its understandable, he has a pair of twin brothers who have impulse control problems and short tempers, an older brother whose immaturity seems to know no bounds, and me, his sister who most of his friends have had crushes on at one time or another. We all had so much going on, that sometimes he got left behind a bit. Our parents, though I love them and I know he does too, were no help either. Dad has always been so tied up in his work, and mom has had to deal with having such a large family when she was never really cut out for it. And then there was his swords master, Hiko, the most arrogant man on the face of the earth. Ken has never really had any good role models for how to deal with his emotions, so he tries to do what our brother Saito does, push them down and forget they're there. But Ken is not like Saito, he can't survive like that."

Anna paused for a second, seeming to drift off into her memories. She spoke with a note of even deeper concern when she continued, "I always worried about him. Even back before he started at Salem I worried that he might always been so emotionally withdraw. But in his second year, he met Nicole. And she helped him open up and come out of his shell. He was happier with her than I had ever seen him. I wasn't surprised when he wrote to me a year ago telling me he had fallen in love with her, and that he was going to tell her at the Christmas Ball. When I read that note, I knew he was going to be fine."

She stopped to wipe a tear that had started to slide down her cheek. Then she spoke again, her voice evidence that she was on the verge of crying, "I was there, when mom got the letter from Ken's principal telling her that he was in the hospital, and that Nicole was dead. I was there in the hospital before he woke up from the effects of the spells that the healers had used to heal the wounds he had gotten from going after her murderer. He doesn't know about that, he didn't wake up till a day after I left. I kept in touch with one of his teachers whom I had also been a student of when I was at Salem, and each of those letters worried me more and more. Ever since Nicole's death, Ken has been retreating into his shell again. After the year ended and mom decided to send him here, I grew even more concerned. I always thought that sending him away from the few friends he had would just make him worse."

Anna then brightened up a bit and looked right at Hermione and continued "But then something happened, something that I didn't expect. He met you. And even though you might not realize it, you have been a great help to him. I could tell when I saw him the day I got here. Your friendship means a lot to Ken. You helped him with the mental block he had in Charms, something that arose after Nicole's death. Just by being the nice person you are, you got him to open up to you. But even with that, I knew that he had a great deal of pain hiding just beneath the surface; the fact that his scar keeps reopening is proof of that. I had hoped that he would eventually be able to work through it, possibly with your help. But deep down I knew something might happen to cause an episode like this."

The two young women sat in silence for a few minutes, letting this all sink in. They were snapped out of their thoughts by the sound of a guitar being played. They looked over to Ken's bed and were surprised by two things. One that Ken was awake and strumming a guitar, the case that Anna had brought in was wide open. The second surprise was that a tall young man who looked just slightly younger than Anna was standing next to the bed. He had walked in while they were talking and they hadn't noticed. Hermione didn't know him, but Anna recognized him just from his hairstyle alone, his hair looked like it belonged on top of the head of a rooster. Anna whispered, "Sano?! When did you get here?" Sano just shushed them, as Ken began to play a haunting tune and sing:

_**I hurt myself today **_

_**To see if I still feel **_

_**I focus on the pain **_

_**The only thing that's real **_

_**The needle tears a hole **_

_**The old familiar sting **_

_**Try to kill it all away **_

_**But I remember everything **_

_**What have I become? **_

_**My sweetest friend **_

_**Everyone I know **_

_**Goes away in the end **_

_**You could have it all **_

_**My empire of dirt **_

_**I will let you down **_

_**I will make you hurt **_

_**I wear this crown of thorns **_

_**Upon my liars chair **_

_**Full of broken thoughts **_

_**I cannot repair **_

_**Beneath the stain of time **_

_**The feelings disappear **_

_**You are someone else **_

_**I am still right here **_

_**What have I become? **_

_**My sweetest friend **_

_**Everyone I know **_

_**Goes away in the end **_

_**You could have it all **_

_**My empire of dirt **_

_**I will let you down **_

_**I will make you hurt **_

_**If I could start again **_

_**A million miles away **_

_**I would keep myself **_

_**I would find a way**_

After finishing the song, Ken handed the guitar to Sano, and then sat in the bed, staring at his hands, which rested in his lap. Hermione whispered one word, "Ken." And then pulled him into a huge hug, tears of joy running down her face. Ken sat there for a few seconds, then warped his arms around her waist and buried his face into her shoulder, and began to cry.

Chapter 8 done

Authors note 02/16/08: Well that does it. I finally finished the rewrite of the existing chapters of this story. Before too long here I will post a new chapter.


	9. Death's Head

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Ruroni Kenshin

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or Ruroni Kenshin.

**Authors note:** Here it is the long awaited new chapter of Scars That Can Never Heal. Sorry about the multiple year wait. Two fair warnings, the first is that things are about to get darker in this story. The second is that my writing style has changed quite a bit since this started.

**Chapter 9: Death's Head**

The handful of days that Ken spent in a catatonic state may have been relatively peaceful at Hogwarts, but this was not the case elsewhere. In London, shadows gathered, and new players entered the scene in their own fashions.

Engelbert Jones was a relative nobody. He was a wizard, but he was never particularly skilled. He worked for the Ministry of Magic, but only in a very minor position. He had no real family; he lived alone and spent his free time reading back issues of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler. The only thing that was unique about Engelbert Jones is how he died.

He had been walking home from the Ministry, his tiny one room flat was only a block or so away from the Ministry's Employee entrance, and had taken a short cut of sorts though a dark alleyway. Now even under normal circumstances this was a bad idea, and it was even more of a bad idea now with the ever present threat of the Death Eaters. Engelbert wasn't concerned by this though, he knew he was a nobody and the Death Eaters probably wouldn't think him worth their time. How wrong he was.

He was only a few meters from exiting the alleyway when he heard multiple loud cracks coming from all around him. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by Death Eaters, all of whom except one had their wand trained on him. His body ceased up from shock, he couldn't scream for help or draw his wand to fight back. As he stood there, frozen in place, one of the Death Eaters turned to the only of his fellows who had not drawn his wand.

"So this is supposed to be your big demonstration, what are you waiting for?" The Death Eater demanded of the seemingly unarmed hooded figure.

The figure simply nodded, and stepped forward, drawing something from the area of his hip. Engelbert's fear increased tenfold when the assailant finally came into full view. The figure towered over him, and he finally got a look at his assailants face. Like the other Death Eaters, the figure wore a mask, but unlike the others this mask didn't cover his entire face. It left the figure's left cheek exposed, and on this exposed piece of his face there was a deep scar in the shape of a cross that almost seemed to glow in the poor light. This scar was the last thing Engelbert saw, the last thing he felt was a stabbing pain in his gut. Then he knew no more.

The other Death Eaters lingered for a moment to survey the scene left by their victims passing. They muttered approvingly at the scene before them, and then they apparated away, one of them only lingering long enough to cast the dark mark. In the end, the alleyway was left almost as empty as it was when Engelbert entered it a few minutes beforehand. The only new addition was his corpse, which from the waist up had been cut neatly in half.

The next day the Daily Prophet reported the odd demise of Engelbert Jones. Even though it was defiantly a Death Eater attack as shown by the dark mark, it was a great deal more violent and gory than most of them. Also, Unspeakables that had surveyed the scene had reported that no magic had been used in the near bisecting of the victim. Many were afraid that He-who-must-not-be-named had developed a new way of killing that the Ministry could not detect.

On wizard knew differently. His attention had been grabbed by the article in the paper, and he knew who the killer was immediately. He went straight to the scene to confirm his suspicions. He found the scene easily, the massive bloodstain on the wall and pavement was a dead giveaway. But he was looking for something that wasn't so obvious, something that the Aurors and Unspeakables investigating probably would have missed. He found it in the wall, a very fain scoring, like someone had scrapped the wall with a knife. He traced it lightly with his finger, losing himself in thought.

Suddenly a woman's voice interrupted his thoughts, "You know, this is still technically a crime scene. You shouldn't be here." The young man turned to the source of the voice. Standing in the alleyway staring at him was a young woman, roughly his age, with spiky bubblegum pink hair. She was of about average height, with a fairly attractive build, and wore jeans and a "Weird Sisters" t-shirt. She didn't look like a threat but the young man still had a feeling that she was at lest somewhat formidable. He stepped away from the wall and turned to fully face her.

"If that's the case, then why are you here?" He asked, stepping closer to her and drawing himself up to his full height. He was almost a foot taller than her, and had to look down to lock eyes with her. It was only when he did this that she first felt the least bit intimidated by him; not only was he taller than her, but his vaguely Asiatic features and golden eyes for some reason gave her the impression that she was staring into the eyes of a wolf, not a man.

She calmed herself down, and replied; "I'm investigating this murder, what's your excuse."

"I know who did this. A detail that your people probably missed told me everything I need to know." The young man replied, throwing her completely off guard. She hadn't seen anything like that coming, nor did she expect him to ask; "You're and Auror, aren't you."

She nodded in the affirmative, then asked; "So what is this big detail that you think we missed?"

He pointed to the spot on the wall that he had been examining earlier, and replied; "There's a very slight scratch on this wall right here. It's so slight that your crime scene team probably didn't even see it. But it's proof that the victim was not killed by magic. This is the mark of a sword scoring the wall as it slashed upwards through the victim's body. I recognize the cut and technique, only a handful of people in the world know it. That narrows down the suspect list."

She stared at him, impressed; "You're pretty sharp, we'd figured that he'd been cut in half by a weapon instead of a spell, but that's not the Death Eater's normal M.O. So who is this guy that you believe did it?"

He stared at her for a split second, before replying; "Before I tell you, I think it only appropriate that you give me your name first."

She smiled, saying; "You're a little formal aren't you. That's cool. My name is Nymphodora Tonks, but if you value your life, you'll just call me Tonks."

The young man gave her a grin of his own, and replied; "I will keep that in mind. You may call me Saito. And in answer to you question, the man who did this sis a muggleborn killer wanted all across the North American continent. He is just as obsessed about blood purity as You-know-who; it would not surprise me if he joined the Death Eaters. His name is Shishio, and I have been pursuing him ever since he killed a muggleborn witch and severely injured her boyfriend several months ago at the Salem Magic Institute. He doesn't use spells to kill; he uses several different sword fighting styles involving the Japanese katana, which is how he killed this victim. He is dangerous, deadly, and not to be underestimated."

Tonks stared at him in shock for a second before commenting; "You sure seem to know a lot about this guy.

Saito turned away from her, and replied; "I should, he's my twin brother."

End of Chapter.

Sorry this is a bit of a short one, but I wanted to get this little plot point out before I continue with Ken's adventures at Hogwarts. I also wanted to introduce the characters of Shishio and Saito, as well as give a brief catalogue of Shishio's crimes. Tonks kinda just snuck in there, but hey, it works.


End file.
